Saturday, 20 October 2018
For me, this is day 12 in a row of work. (Allan got time off while I sorted bulbs for two of those days.)
I must be getting old, mellower, and wiser because I did not think of yesterday’s planter criticism annoyance first thing upon awakening, nor had I had any planter nightmares overnight.
Long Beach
We planted in Fifth Street Park, all four quadrants, lots of narcissi, some camassia, some crocus.
Melianthus major, Fifth Street (Allan’s photo)
sweet peas still blooming (Allan’s photo)
Allan’s photo
Allan’s photo
more sweet peas (Allan’s photo)
Allan’s photo
It was truly Bulb Hell getting the narcissi into the hard, rooty soil in all four quadrants. When it was done, that sort of bulb hell was over for this year, as all that remained was the welcome sign and planting in some pots. Over for Allan, anyway. I still have my bulbs to plant at home and may find some hard, rooty soil there.
We dumped debris at city works and covered the new mulch pile with a tarp so that weeds won’t seed into it.
The Basket Case Greenhouse
On the way north, we stopped to get two Geranium Rozanne for the planter we (Allan) dug out two days ago.
Allan’s photo at The Basket Case
Penny (Allan’s photo)
browsing
Buddy and Penny
buying and chatting with Darrell
Penny (Allan’s photo)
Klipsan Beach Cottages
greeted by Mary and Bella
and Sarah
I planted tulips in pots while Allan did some fall clean up clipping. Half the pots will stay at KBC for the new owners next spring, as it is a tradition to have pots of tulips in the fenced garden. The other half will go with Mary and Denny to their new home in Naselle! They will be only ten minutes further away from us than they are now (although not on the way to anywhere we usually go).
sit spot
part of Allan’s project, before
during
after cutting Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’
Allan’s photos
Thalictrum ‘Elin’ got cut to become part of our Halloween decor.
Allan walked to the swale to pull a lot of Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ and daylily leaves and found, to our delight, that other KBC helpers had already cleaned it up beautifully.
Allan’s photo
Allan’s photo
I got the tulips all planted in the pots (mostly viridiflora, or green, tulips, my favourites). This year, I had been going to get some colours other than “green”. After I got the Shelburne garden back, I had to get green ones for the green-painted inn: Spring Green, Green Wave, Green Star, Virichic, Night Rider. Greenland and Artist and Golden Artist are viridifloras I did not get this year because you can’t have everything; budgets won’t allow it.
looking in the east gate
Billardia longiflora
the bird bath view
the pond garden
Now except for the Long Beach welcome sign (whose bulbs are not here till the 25th), we are done with bulb time at jobs. Tomorrow, I will plant my own bulbs.
Long Beach
After yesterday’s infuriating revelation that a citizen is threatening a letter to the editor about how utterly dreadful the Bolstad planters look, I decided we had better have a look at them on the way home. Based on the dire complaint, I expected to find dead plants and massive weeds. But no! Clearly, the city crew had done some watering and the plants that remain have proved their toughness. So tonight, I will present a Planter Reference Post for Bolstad. As usual with PRPs, it will be rather dull.
On the way back through Long Beach, we saw a big tour bus parked at Scooper’s Ice Cream, from a “Beeline Tours” company, with a cute logo. The bus had huge windows…
like this…(photo from Beeline Tours)
…and all lined up in the windows were folks of retirement age, each with an ice cream cone. We found it a sweet sight to see.
Shelburne Hotel
We stopped for five minutes of cosmos deadheading.
looking north
sweet peas
Right at the sidewalk entryway, deer have eaten the roses!
front garden, south end
OleBob’s Café
After going home and unloading all the empty bulb boxes and bags and the bulb food, we repaired to OleBob’s at the port for another celebratory dinner.
tasty dinner salad ((Allan’s photo)
Chef Laura, who is from Uraguay, showed us some wonderful photos of a Brazilian beach that she will soon visit to see her brother. The beach has a free lending library!
You can borrow books or a surfboard on Praia de Pipa (Pipa Beach)!
Why, I reflected as Laura spoke of southern countries, were we not taught at school to say the names of the countries properly? We learned Paraguay and Uraguay with a hard G, not Para-whay, the way Laura properly pronounces it.
Tomorrow, Allan is FREED from Bulb Time, and my bulbosity continues for one more day at home. In a week, we will have the last bulb planting day at the welcome sign. I overspent my budget this year so I WILL resist the end of season sales.
The work board tonight:
Tangly Cottage Gardening 
Another lovely walk among lovely plants!
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I have never seen a bus with such big windows.
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Those email comments sill bother me. I get so annoyed when someone does that to me or anyone else in our Beautification Committee. People are so quick to offer advice, but none of them actually help out. Oh well. I will not rant about that.
Does Melianthus major die back in frost? I have not grown it. It is uncommon here. I have seen around, but I do not understand the allure of it. Although, that in itself is alluring. I mean I should probably grow it to see what I think of it. You know, I actually grow a Callistemon citrinus because I dislike it so much. The more I work with it, the more I like it.
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